2018 Season

[Plutoman15]

Funny, that is where I got my flats pans as well. The thermometer I got on amazon.

Joe

[Dennis H.]

Plutoman15 explained it well.

Now remember the boiling point of water will change from day to day and from one location and another.
At the house we are at about 800' above sea level and I found that with the thermometer that I use the "normal" boiling point for me is 210 degrees. 212 is at sea level. So I aim for 217 degrees.
Now as low pressure and high pressure weather fronts come thru that will change the boiling point a little, that is why you should check it at the time when you are finishing your syrup. I check and adjust my thermometer on the evap everyday right before I start to boil.

[HowardR]

In post #57 of this thread, I wrote:

I was explaining to my grandson how maple syrup production works. First you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment. Then, since you have more equipment, you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment.

There's no equipment on my shopping list for next year. I barely managed to process Monday and Tuesday's huge run without any of the sap going bad. There were two nights (Monday night and Tuesday night), that I got little sleep because I kept going out every hour and a half or so to keep my stovetop-evaporator and RO running all night. But it was all worth it. My wife and I just finished bottling it up last night. We made more syrup in two days than the entire rest of the year combined.

[Paddymountain]

I'm working on getting all my collection barrels brought in to be pressure washed.
I have one cage tank that I'll haul water to and flush out. Tomorrow finish filtering and bottling.
We have boiled 2000 gallons of sap, but sure don't have the syrup to show for it.
Looks like the next run early in the week, let's hope we get back into a freeze thaw cycle.
Hopefully there will be a couple of weeks yet of sugaring! Remember to have fun everyone,
work is overrated anyway!

[sbedilion]

In post #57 of this thread, I wrote:



There's no equipment on my shopping list for next year. I barely managed to process Monday and Tuesday's huge run without any of the sap going bad. There were two nights (Monday night and Tuesday night), that I got little sleep because I kept going out every hour and a half or so to keep my stovetop-evaporator and RO running all night. But it was all worth it. My wife and I just finished bottling it up last night. We made more syrup in two days than the entire rest of the year combined.

Nice work HowardR! I pulled a 3hr of sleep night a few nights ago. Came into the house around 4am....wrote a note in BIG letters "DO NOT WAKE ME UP"....Laid it on the table beside the couch and passed out on the couch. 7am my wife wakes me up..."aren't you going to work".

[sshirk5573]

Awesome, thank you for the lesson Joe. Much appreciated. I am gonna run to Wally World tomorrow and see if they have any candy thermometers. If they dont, i reckon Johnnies restaurant place should. Got one of my steamer pans there, but it was expensive!

Go to Target or Walmart and get a digital thermometer that has a removable probe on a wire. $15-$20. don't ever submerge the probe- but if you just put the tip in () you'll get a good reading. Much easier to read than a candy thermometer.

[sticknstring]

I see what you did there sshirk. I stopped at walmart this morning and got both a digital and regular thermometer. So should be good to go! Thanks for the info!

[Dennis H.]

Since there was no sap today to speak of I finished and filtered syrup. The year total is climbing, slowly.

Also took advantage of the down time and took everything out of the evap pans and cleaned them, well at least they are right now pickled. I will give it a good scrub and rinse tomorrow that way I will have nice clean pans for either what I see as the last few runs of the season or an early start to cleaning things up for the end of the season.

Funny thing is that this year, so far, is an exact copy of last season.
2017: tapped 1/21, 1st sap brought in 1/22 and last sap brought in 2/22
2018: tapped 1/20, 1st sap brought in 1/21 and last sap, well I'm hopping there is still more to come.

Sugar content is lower this season, and so far I am about 700 gals short in sap from what I got this same time last season.
Between both those I do not foresee have a total gals of syrup higher than last season.

[Paddymountain]

I have all my filtering and bottling caught up. We filled a 5 gallon drum with the last of the syrup we made.
Everything for collecting sap is rinsed out and ready to go.
Should of done the evaporator also , but if it doesn't give a run here on Tuesday, I might try and just get it all boiled down.
Hoping the season isn't over as I'm at about a third of what I would like to make.
I've been diligent this year at staying on top of things, have everything pretty much streamlined for maximum efficiency
But if the weather doesn't cooperate we'll have to settle for what we get.
I was sold out of syrup last year in July, if my people get wind of how poor a year it is
they will clean me out in no time! I won't buy syrup to resell, too many people ask if I make it all here,
and I'm not changing that.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Resting and visiting other sugarmakers in the area. Last Tuesday was a large run and it spilled over into Wed and thursday. We gathered 1200 gallons of sap and made 25 gallons of syrup.
Couple pictures of the granddaughters gathering.







Temp was near 70 deg F.
We are not getting much sap at this time. Havent had a freeze. Maybe Sunday night???

Regards,
Chris